VeraBank N.A. Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

VeraBank N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 34.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,083 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,023 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.4% of VeraBank N.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. VeraBank N.A.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,933,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 400.0% during the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley grew its holdings in Alphabet by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. WestEnd Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% during the 2nd quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 121.3% during the 2nd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 221,796 shares of company stock valued at $53,983,001. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $291.74 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $254.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $292.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.77, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $340.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.81.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.